Acura mulls smaller, cheaper NSX

Along with an all-new NSX, Acura has potential plans to build a smaller and cheaper sports car that will also have many of the former’s high-tech features, Carbuzz.com reports.

Honda had plans to launch an all-new NSX that wouldn’t likely bring in huge profits but would certainly help to reestablish the Japanese automaker’s high-performance credibility. Those plans were shelved as an economic downturn approached.

Acura’s all-wheel-drive NSX hybrid concept first shown last January at Detroit is a sign of economic improvment, and it’s now heading to production – possibly with the addition of a baby brother.

Motor Trend is reporting that in addition to a new NSX, Honda also had plans in 2008 to do a “Small NSX” and now it’s reportedly in the works once again. A Honda source has told Motor Trend that this car is a “shrunken version of the big-boy NSX.”

Along with having the new NSX’s SH-AWD system and mid-engine layout, this smaller sports car could be powered by a turbocharged direct-injection engine, most likely a four-cylinder unit. The new production NSX will debut in 2015.

Pricing will likely be in the neighborhood of $50,000-$60,000 (Porsche Boxster territory), a relative bargain considering the amount of technology it may share with the much more expensive NSX.